


Stay

by threewalls



Series: Puppy Love Cafe [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Animal Play, Awkwardness, Closeted Character, Community: hc_bingo, Community: kink_bingo, Community: trope_bingo, Exhaustion, Host Clubs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Puppy Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-31
Updated: 2013-10-31
Packaged: 2017-12-30 16:58:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1021151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threewalls/pseuds/threewalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kim Joonmyun was Jongin's Wednesday night overtime for six months straight but now he's cancelled for the last four weeks. Jongin is sent to find out why. (Puppy boy cafe AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aesthesiae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aesthesiae/gifts).



> For halcyondusk. Because I thought you might like more of these two. Even if it's another cliffhanger. ;)
> 
> With thanks to BP and Mec, for hand-holding.
> 
> Bingo squares: "animal play" (Kink Bingo), "exhaustion" (H/C Bingo) and "hurt/comfort" (Trope Bingo).

"Because you are an expert on the signs of burn-out. No argument from me about that. Mm-hmm. If the problem's variety, you know we have an answer for that."

Jongin does not mean to eavesdrop. It's just that Lu Han is testing Jongin on his new barista skills ("Soy caramel latte!" "Give me a black eye!" "Make me a wet macchiato! Now a cortado! Haha! Trick order!") while multi-tasking with his phone against his ear. The steam from the espresso machine is loud, but Lu Han (call me hyung!) is louder.

"Well, it's off theme, but just for you and your new school boy fetish, I bet Sehun still has his high school tie. Right, I know, but the kid can't be trusted not to put too much milk in everyone's drinks. We've been training up one of the others this week. Aren't you going to ask me who?"

Jongin's throat tightens with how much he really doesn't want to be listening to this.

"You're no fun. Here's a hint: you can teach an old dog new tricks. I should have played blond and told you I didn't know how to fix the problem, right? Then you would have come and saved us all."

There's not even a distant buzz for the other side of the conversation, but he's guessed from Lu Han's comments and exaggerated sighs that it's not strictly a client calling. And, well, it's Tuesday night, the lull between the evening and late shifts with the other puppies settling the dogs upstairs for the night. Jongin _knew_ who it would be on the phone as soon as it rang. It's no surprise at all when Lu Han hangs up his phone and slumps onto the counter in an overly dramatic fashion. 

"I'm sorry, Jongin. Your Wednesday night just cancelled. He's planning to work late again." Lu Han sighs, and then waves a weary hand at Jongin in front of the espresso machine. "Raspberry mocha this time, extra raspberry syrup, extra cream."

Jongin can still see Lu Han's hunched form curved in the machine's shiny silver surface after he turns, but Jongin's attention is more on the movements of his hands (steam burns!) than on Lu Han's continuing commentary. ("He's not even making up new excuses now." "How many problems can twenty fifteen-year-olds have?")

But when Lu Han pauses to taste Jongin's latest creation, Jongin somehow blurts out: "Maybe it's a girlfriend."

Lu Han finds this suggestion hilarious. "Trust me. No," he says, once he's stopped cackling, and then tells Jongin to make him a double espresso.

"Maybe it's only recent," Jongin says.

Younger, and a bit sporty. Jongin doesn't know much about him, but Kim Joonmyun seems to like books. Jongin thinks he'd also like someone who needed a bit of encouragement when it came to her literature course requirements. He'd help her out and take her out to dinner after exams, tell her she'd worked hard. And she'd be cute, too, someone for Joonmyun to spoil. 

"Or maybe she's a secret girlfriend, and he just hasn't told you yet." Somehow, the words just keep coming out of Jongin's mouth.

"Joonmyun doesn't have a girlfriend," Lu Han says. "He has students who are giving him premature grey hairs, that's what he has, just like last year, and he's so stubborn that he won't listen when I tell him--" Lu Han pulls himself short, smiling bright. Maybe he's remembered he and Joonmyun are actually Jongin's bosses, not his friends. "But we're here for coffee! Ok, this time, make anything you like. I won't look-- I'll guess!"

Jongin's not sure what sort of game this is, what sort of drink Lu Han is expecting him to make, but he would rather make coffee than think about why Joonmyun sat with Jongin every Wednesday night for six months solid only to cancel for the last three weeks. A whole month counting tomorrow.

"Don't think about it so hard!" Lu Han says, his back turned and his fingers in his ears. He knows Jongin too well. "Just make me a drink!"

So, Jongin makes one of the first type of drink he learnt to make. Well, the second, after Minseok showed him how to pull his first espresso shot a week ago. He sets the cup on the counter and then taps Lu Han on the shoulder.

Lu Han makes a big show of sniffing the cup before raising it to his lips. "Cafe Americano?" he guesses.

Jongin nods. 

"Not a long black?"

Jongin gapes like a goldfish in response, unsure if he's somehow gotten the recipe mixed up. Over the last week, Minseok has taught him a LOT of different ways to make coffee. But Lu Han's nose crinkles and he's laughing again. Given that he's also drunk from every single one of Jongin's creations and it's a miracle he's not dancing on the tables or running for the toilet already. 

" _Some_ people claim they can taste the difference, but I can't. So you pass. Congratulations! I just need to check the rota and we can plan your behind-the-counter debut!"

"Ok," Jongin says. 

"You know, for someone who begged to be the one to replace Sehun, you're not really overflowing with enthusiasm," Lu Han says. 

The careful way he's looking at Jongin makes Jongin's body twist, his torso pulling back around to the safety of the espresso machine. "Another coffee?" he asks.

"Just clear the counter and get upstairs. You'll need to shower before the doors open again."

Jongin gets the last shower before the late shift, banging on the bathroom door and threatening to turn out the lights to get Sehun and Zitao to come out before he runs out of time. His hair is still slightly damp when he crawls into his basket ready for customers to take him out to play.

He gets the last shower after the late shift, too, Lu Han pulling him aside to talk about scheduling.

"I can put you behind the counter on Thursday night, if you can work that instead of tomorrow?"

Thursday is Jongin's only regular day off. The other moves around the week depending on the needs of the business and the other guys. He only has one class around lunchtime on Thursdays, so it's a good day to catch up on things like assignments. Or sleep. But he can do that tomorrow instead just as easily. 

"Great!" 

His boss's enthusiasm should be catching, Jongin knows, but maybe he's just too tired tonight. He turns to go but Lu Han shoves a serviette into Jongin's hands.

"Take this before I forget."

There's writing on it, the lines already bleeding along the soft fibres. The name and address of a high school Jongin has heard of but didn't attend. It's nowhere near the café.

"What's this?"

"That's the high school where Joonmyun works," Lu Han says. "He asked me where you go to university a while back, so fair's fair, right?"

He's grinning wildly at Jongin like anything he's saying makes sense. Jongin has already stuffed the serviette into his pocket.

"Joonmyun won't listen to his friends, you see, so I have to send out my secret weapon," Lu Han says, reaching up to pet Jongin on the head. "Enjoy your night off, Jongin-ah."

\---

It's several hours past dark, and Jongin's feeling cold and hungry. He's been running late and early all day and forgot to pick up something to eat before he got here. It hasn't rained on him yet, even though the sky was grey above him before it got dark.

The high school where Kim Joonmyun works is mid-range expensive. Jongin's parents could never have afforded to send him here. Or at least that's what it looks like to Jongin from the street, on the other side of high, high walls.

Jongin has tried to look inconspicuous as he waits, but that was easier when there were still schoolgirls (whose older brother he might be) leaving through the gates. 

Baekhyun would have charmed a girl to take him to see Kim-seongsaenim. Kyungsoo would have probably just walked straight in, daring people to ask him why he was there. But Lu Han couldn't have sent either of them, because neither of them still work at the Puppy Love Café. Jongdae is also a charmer and still one of Jongin's fellow employees. But he only joined them at the end of last week, and as far as Jongin knows has never ever met Joonmyun.

Those plans would have also worked better while the gates were still open.

When his phone tells him that they're well into the break between the evening and late shifts, Jongin texts Lu Han that he thinks he must have missed Joonmyun leaving for the night.

Jongin rubs his hands together, still staring into the darkness of the schoolyard just beyond the gate. 

Maybe Joonmyun is having dinner with his girlfriend right now. Kim Joonmyun in a sharp suit jacket across from a pretty woman in a pretty dress is a nicer mental image than Kim Joonmyun in a cold, empty school office somewhere across the road from Jongin.

Maybe she's a teacher. He spends enough time at work so maybe he'd date a colleague. That would make sense as a secret relationship. Maybe they're both working late, tired, but happy to be spending the time together.

Jongin's phone vibrates in his pocket. It's Lu Han, who tells him not to worry - that Joonmyun is actually leaving work right now.

He wants to text back to ask how Lu Han would know that. Jongin types and re-types the message for five minutes before giving up trying to find any way to word it more politely and deleting his reply completely. He shoves his phone back in his pocket, both hands into his pockets and looks back across the street.

Oh, Jongin thinks. Or maybe stops thinking.

Joonmyun is not eating dinner with his girlfriend. The jacket he is wearing has patches on the elbows, which wasn't really what Jongin had in mind, either, nor is the sweater he's wearing under it.

When he sees Jongin looking at him from across the street, he gives a little wave.

Jongin has to think before he raises his hand, waving back. His pulse is heavy and hard in his throat, like the moments before a performance, except even as much as Jongin loves to dance that doesn't make him stumble forward like he's drunk.

Joonmyun holds up a hand and Jongin rocks back on his feet, stopping steady, before he can cross the street. He still feels like running, like dancing. He's waited through most of his evening off standing right here, but that doesn't feel like so much now. There's a fizzing sort of patience in Jongin's chest, soda bubbles sticking to his ribs and growing. 

"Lu Han told me where you work," he calls out. 

Jongin has the serviette in his jacket pocket, though he has checked and re-checked the address so often that he can probably recite it with the serviette folded up in his hand.

"That's what he told me, too," Joonmyun says. His face is serious for just a moment before dissolving into a smile that scrunches up his eyes and shakes free the giggle in Jongin's throat.

It's a familiar smile.

"May I give you my phone number before he gives you that as well?"

Joonmyun frowns at the screen of Jongin's phone (Jongin knows it's old) but he waves away Jongin's grabbing attempts to take it back. He rings himself, hanging up on Jongin's phone before handing it back. He's put himself in as his full name. Jongin doesn't see under what he saves Jongin's number.

"I would have come to find you sooner if I had known you were waiting," Joonmyun says. "Have you eaten?"

He's so short. Or just shorter than Jongin. Jongin has wondered but had never been sure. Joonmyun is smiling at Jongin. 

"Are you hungry?"

"No," Jongin says. "I mean, yes. I mean," and then his stomach gurgles.

Joonmyun beams at him, and Jongin isn't afraid to keep smiling back even though it is so strange to be looking down to catch the expression on his face. Joonmyun has his hands clasped in front of him like he's still thinking what to ask next.

"I'd like to buy you dinner," Joonmyun says. "To make up for how long you've waited." 

\---

Jongin jolts awake to Joonmyun's hand on his arm and his soothing voice telling the cab driver where to pull up to let them out. He flinches at the number on the meter, at how much smaller a number he can last remember it being, before he made himself stare out the window instead of glancing sideways every two seconds to check whether Joonmyun was still really there.

Joonmyun pushes open the door of the café in front of Jongin, shepherding him through. It's not a chain, but it looks nice inside. They'd be well into the late shift now, so Jongin can understand why Joonmyun didn't take him back to their café.

The waitress is pleased to see Joonmyun, barely glancing at Jongin. That gives Jongin more time to stare up at the board above the counter. They don't even list food there, just all the coffees and teas and hot chocolates and milkshakes. Jongin tries to ignore the prices. It's just like when Lu Han takes all the puppies out for meat when the café makes target for the month, isn't it? 

"What would you like?"

"Americano," Jongin says, and looks really hard at the sandwiches and pastries under the glass counter. 

He listens to Joonmyun order two Americanos, and the click-tap of the waitress's heels as she crosses to the espresso machine. Jongin's fingers twitch in time with the sounds of the machine, the steps he could run through in his sleep.

Joonmyun's hands are hanging by his sides; Jongin tries so hard to have an opinion about sandwiches. He is hungry. He could just ask for the nearest three. Unless that would look greedy. Nearest two?

"This is the closest café to my apartment where they make the Americano just the way I like it," Joonmyun says.

Jongin looks up. "Coffee first, water second?"

"That's not so important to me," Joonmyun says. "There's no standard recipe, but I prefer equal amounts of espresso and boiling water."

Most coffee shops would let you customise your order, Jongin thinks. That's what Minseok taught him, here are all the basics, so that Jongin would be able to customise an order within reason. But Minseok also taught him to measure the boiling water for Americano in the same cup he used to brew the espresso shots, raising an eyebrow about the strange things that some customers cared so much about.

The waitress comes back and asks if they'd like anything else with their coffees.

"I don't know what's good here," Jongin says.

"How about I pick some food and you find us a table?"

There's a couple sitting across from each other in one of the corners, and a woman typing on her laptop. There are small tables with two chairs only, larger tables with more chairs and more elbow room and couches in front of low tables. None of the chairs have much space around them, and picking sandwiches actually sounds a lot like hearing about business here the whole past week.

"They all look good," Jongin blurts.

"The tables?" Joonmyun asks.

"The sandwiches," Jongin says. "They all look, um, ok. I'm hungry. They all look good?"

Why would they space out the chairs, when it's not that sort of café?

"We can sit anywhere. There's lots of space. Lots of chairs. To sit on."

Joonmyun turns back to the waitress, and Jongin stares at the floor beneath his shoes. This is probably the longest conversation he's ever had with Joonmyun, and it is going so well.

"I'm very sorry," he hears Joonmyun tell the waitress. "But if it's not too much trouble, could we get these coffees to go?"

Walking outside isn't much better. Joonmyun asks Jongin questions about university, his classes, and Jongin answers in two sentence sound bites swallowing back everything he probably shouldn't say with bites from his sandwich.

Yes, he passed all his exams. (It helped that he slept more than usual during the exam period, because _someone_ was paying him to sleep in their lap once a week.)

His classes this semester? They're all fine. (What a coincidence that Joonmyun decided to read through the exact same classics Jongin had to study last semester.)

During shifts, customers do most of the talking. They ask to see this puppy, or that one. They ask for a piece of chocolate cake or one with strawberries on the top. They ask for shots of espresso and hot chocolates, extra cream or more water. It's even easier, in some ways, during the late shift, because then they direct all those sorts of questions to Minseok and Lu Han. You don't ask a puppy whether you can play with it.

Jongin's overtime with Joonmyun is different. It's just the two of them in the empty café, no other puppies, no other customers. Joonmyun's orders, which puppy, which kind of coffee, are pre-booked and waiting for him when he unlocks the café's side door with his own key. 

But he also stays to supervise Jongin clearing up after their session and closing the café down, which is many flavours of hilarious because Jongin knows more about what needs doing than Joonmyun does, even if Joonmyun is his boss. Jongin will work through the checklist Lu Han gave him, that first time, and Joonmyun will try to keep his eyes open. They talked, sometimes, then, but it never felt this awkward.

Finally, Joonmyun stops on the pavement. He's still smiling, but he's always smiling. His hands are clenched together, and Jongin wonders if it's possible for his hair to be hungry for their touch. He doesn't say that out loud, either. 

Joonmyun offers to call Jongin a cab (to call it a night). That's why Jongin's standing so close to the curb when a bus smashes through the wide puddle of the gutter, soaking Jongin to the waist.

Joonmyun is still happy to order Jongin a cab, to pay for it, but a cab would be ten minutes, and another thirty for the journey. He explains this all carefully before taking a deep breath and asking if Jongin would prefer coming up to his apartment. It's in the building they're standing in front of.

Jongin suddenly realises exactly why Lu Han had got mad at Baekhyun for talking to Zitao and Sehun about how much better "home visits" could pay. Why Lu Han had insisted that none of _his_ puppies (or kitten) would ever have to do things like that. 

Jongin had planned to ask Baekhyun about it later, when no one could laugh that he didn't get what Baekhyun meant. He's not good at keeping secrets but without Wednesday night overtime, Jongin does need something else on top of his regular shifts. But Baekhyun had been gone, quit or fired, before Jongin could ask. 

But he thinks he knows what Baekhyun meant now. Jongin still nods yes, and follows Joonmyun into his building.

\---

Jongin has always wondered why Joonmyun didn't have a bed above the café like this other bosses. Lu Han and Minseok share the room across from the room that all the puppies sleep in, but the mess that is Joonmyun's floor finally explains to Jongin why he doesn't live there with them. 

(Lu Han and Minseok have two beds, but Jongin wonders now if that means anything. Jongin didn't realise that it meant anything that Sehun and Zitao share one big blanket, not until he caught them kissing in the kitchen.)

Jongin can understand why Lu Han laughed when he suggested that Joonmyun might have a girlfriend. He's not sure what he thinks about that, so he starts peeling off his wet jeans so he can stop dripping on Joonmyun's sweaters. His jacket is waterproof, so that kept him dry mostly down to his hips, but everything below that is soaked through.

"Someone I used to know left these behind with me," Joonmyun says, walking back into the room. "He was much taller than I am, so they should--"

Joonmyun looks Jongin up and down, his eyes widening before he looks away, clutching at the pile of clothing in his arms.

"I can leave these here for you," he says. "Please let me know when you're dressed."

"No, no," Jongin says. "I'm not-- I'm wearing puppy shorts."

Jongin holds up his folded pile of jeans to chest height and turns in a circle, so that Joonmyun can see the Lycra puppy shorts he was wearing under his jeans. They're the same colour as Jongin's skin.

"They're comfortable," Jongin says, because they are.

So comfortable that Jongin is not wearing anything underneath, even though that means there's a hole in the back where the detachable, dry-clean only tail would push through if he was on shift. He didn't bring the tail. He didn't bring the collar even though he sometimes wraps his own hand around his throat if he's having trouble getting to sleep.

Jongin goes red red red, turning back around so quickly, even though Joonmyun is not looking at him at all. And because this really can't get more awkward, Jongin asks: "Why did you stop coming on Wednesday nights?"

"It was always meant to be a temporary arrangement," Joonmyun says. "Lu Han said you were looking to pick up extra money, but then, somehow, it was six months later."

"I haven't stopped needing that money," Jongin says.

"We should find some other way to increase your pay. Minseok tells me that you've been training up on the espresso machine behind the counter. That's good." 

Jongin doesn't look at people when he talks, sometimes, but he doesn't think that Joonmyun is not quite looking at him now for the same reason, even if he's not sure he does understand why.

"Ok, but why do you keep cancelling every week instead of just-- cancelling?" Jongin asks. "And, really, really, why? I believed that you were busy at school, but Lu Han sent me to talk to you because he doesn't. Do you want him to send me back again?"

Joonmyun exhales, and fidgets with the pile of clothes he's still carrying.

"Let me tell you a story," he says. "We used to have another puppy, at the café. This was before your time. He was also very good at being a puppy. I liked how much he enjoyed his work. 

"But then one day, he said that he wanted to look for a different job. So that we could be friends instead boss and employee." 

"What happened?" Jongin asks.

"He found another job," Joonmyun says, and he's smiling in a way that is hard to look at. "But before that, he found someone who was better at being the sort of friend he was looking for. I was happy for him."

Even though Joonmyun's voice has stayed serene, Jongin thinks that he might be talking about the sort of friends that, say, Sehun is with Zitao, instead of how Sehun is with Jongin. If this was about people in a book, Jongin would just ask Joonmyun to explain more, but Jongin would rather save the question for another time. He knows he doesn't _react_ the same way curling up with Sehun as he does with Joonmyun, but he doesn't want to have that discussion right now, either.

"I don't want a different job," Jongin says, carefully. "I don't want-- I'm happy being your puppy. It was weird before, right? I wanted to sit on the floor at that café."

"You did?" Joonmyun says, and he is finally looking at Jongin with a smile that Jongin understands. "I thought about dog-walking. The way you kept walking on ahead and coming back to find me. It was very cute."

"If this is my job," Jongin says, his heart going thump thump thump, "you should be paying me for this."

"Of course. The usual hourly rate?"

"Yes, because this is just like usual," Jongin insists, because that seems important. "Wednesday night and everything. You're not going to want to do anything different than usual, right? And next week, you'll come back to the café?"

"I promise. You've convinced me," Joonmyun says, and holds out the clothes again. There's a hoodie and sweats. 

Someone he used to know. Lu Han would probably know, but Jongin doesn't want to think about what Lu Han will think about Jongin following someone home, even if that someone is Kim Joonmyun. 

"Would you like to use the bathroom to get changed?" he asks Jongin.

"But don't you want to--" Jongin holds his hands up in front of his chest, wrists limp in a "begging posture." He barks.

"Oh," Joonmyun says. He puts the clothes down on the arm of the couch and starts moving piles of books from the cushions. "I'm sure you'd be more comfortable sitting, wouldn't you, Kai?"

Jongin pulls his T-shirt up over his head and falls to hands and knees, muscle memory, and yes.

Joonmyun sits on the couch and slaps his thighs. Jongin scrambles up and into his lap, and Joonmyun's arm stretched across his shoulders, his hand stroking over his upper back, feels so familiar and good.

"I'll fall asleep," Jongin warns. "Wake me whenever before nine."

"It'll be before six," Joonmyun says. "Some of us have work tomorrow."

"I have work tomorrow. I have barista work tomorrow."

"I'll have to come see how your Americano compares."

"Ok," Jongin says, and snuggles down, closing his eyes. Joonmyun's fingers have begun to stroke through his hair.

**Author's Note:**

> You can also comment/subscribe at my [LJ](http://threewalls.livejournal.com/372155.html) or my [DW](http://threewalls.dreamwidth.org/248414.html).


End file.
